This Guy watches more Wire than me

From LA-based actor Pete Handelman. I like his impression of Lester.

Cure for Wire withdrawl


I've been missing the show lately. "Friday Night Lights" has become my recent Netflix fave but it doesn't quite cut it. Watching Season Three has been good but I've already seen it. How do you have a new experience with something that's over?

I decided to read one of the novels by the show's trio of high-caliber novelists (Richard Price, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane): "The Night Gardener" by Pelecanos. Part of the attraction was to counterbalance such riveting titles in my graduate program like "Twenty-five years of State Budgeting Practices" and "The Politics of Bureaucratic Structure."

It was an amazing read (much better than the Harlan Coben novel I read next). It's easy to see how his name was on some of the best episodes of the show. It wasn't just hard-boiled, neo-noir Chandler-in-the-Beltway detective fiction; I found it to be extremely insightful into race relations. The way people talk and interact will seem familiar to anyone who lives in a diverse urban community. He's to D.C. what Simon is to Baltimore.

Many of the characters and cop-talk reminds me of "The Wire." Some characters talk and you think - "That's Bubbs! McNulty! Landsman!"

Anyways, I recommend you check it out. If you have read any "Wire"-like novels, post a comment and refer them.

Obama a Wire fan?


Wouldn't be surprising if he was, given his tastes and background as a poverty organizer in inner-city Chicago. That's what this article from a Nashville alternative weekly says, claiming that the Presidential hopeful once called it his "favorite show."

What the story also keys into is how people in public service are die-hard into the show.

Been re-watching the Third Season lately. I'll post on it later. Forgot how good it was (and is).

Wire Roundup

David Simon spoke in Austin last weekend. You can read the article here. I'm not sure, but it's almost as if he's on a speaking tour right now. Here's the Harvard Crimson article about his speaking engagement there last week. If he's ever coming to LA, I'd appreciate it if somebody could drop me a line.

- And here's a recent article from the SF Chronicle that mirrors the talk on "The Wire" about the new generation of hoppers - the Marlos of the underworld - refusing to abide by a code, and not following the rules of the game. Money quote:

"Shootings in that part of Oakland have become so brazen that some Baby Boom-era street
hustlers have complained to Oakland police officers about an increased level of violence from emboldened youngsters.
One of them told police that he was terrified.
'He was saying the (street) game is all twisted and these youngsters aren't playing by the
rules, and he was more concerned for his life now than he ever was,' said Lt. Ersie Joyner,
head of the Police Department's homicide unit and an East Oakland native. 'I had a couple of
guys call to say, 'Please do something about them, because I'm scared.' '
Joyner said he has seen the seeming disdain some suspects have for arrest, incarceration or
conviction."

I don't believe that the murder rate is skyrocketing nationwide or anything - NY and LA both had the lowest numbers of homicides in 2007 in a very long time - but it seems as if violence is getting more concentrated in certain communities and the violence perpetrated is dispensed more casually, like it's just a normal part of life. Like we saw in the Baltimore of "The Wire," it's just so entrenched.

- The actor who played Savino on the show was stabbed recently. Fortunately, his injuries were not too bad. Guy sounds like a real committed actor though judging by the article.

Harvard to host symposium on "The Wire" tomorrow

David Simon will be there as well as Sudhir Venkatesh, the blogger/economist who wrote "What Real Life Thugs Think of the Wire." Sounds really amazing. Wish I could go. (hat tip to Nicole)

Why aren't there any Wire events on the West Coast?

Also, according to tvsquad.com the Season Five DVD set will be released Aug. 12 (initial artwork at left).

And BET is showing Season Four right now.